Yusei Kikuchi — 2026 Season

2026 Season Stats

Pitching stats and MLB-wide rank · 2026 Season

Stat	2026	MLB Rank
ERA	4.92	—
WHIP	1.54	—
W	1	—
L	7	—
K	67	—
IP	67.2	—
SV	0	—
GS	14	—

2026 Season Highlights

As of 10/1, Yusei Kikuchi is on the Angels' active roster as a starter, but it has been a difficult season in which wins have been hard to come by. Every appearance has been a start, and his results have slipped from last year, with more trouble keeping runners off base. Even so, his knack for racking up strikeouts has held up. He remains an experienced left-hander with a long track record as a starter, having come to the majors as an ace of the Seibu Lions.

Yusei Kikuchi has built a solid MLB career since debuting with the Mariners in 2019, accumulating 50+ wins as a starter. His powerful fastball and sharp slider anchor a durable repertoire — in 2025 with the Angels, he served as Opening Day starter, made a league-high-tying 33 starts, and earned his second All-Star selection. Now in year two of a three-year deal, Kikuchi remains the anchor of the Angels' rotation in 2026.

1He has kept taking the ball as a starter this season, but his record is heavily weighted toward losses. His run prevention and the rate at which he puts runners on base have both slipped from last year, and the results have been tough.
2He rose to prominence as an ace for the Seibu Lions and joined the Mariners in 2019. His strengths are the experience of holding down a big-league rotation spot for years and the ability to miss bats.
3The key thing to watch is whether he can regain steadier outings that translate into wins. Last year he worked deep into games as a starter, so it will be worth seeing whether he can get back to that.

DETAIL · ANALYSIS

Detailed Analysis

In-depth metrics aggregated from every at-bat and pitch.

Data as of: 2026-11-08

Expand detailed analysis ▾

Recent Form (Last 10 Starts)

Older games on the left, most recent on the right. Color shows how they played. Regular season games only.

Best: 6IP+ / ≤1ER · Good: 5IP+ / ≤2ER · OK: 4IP+ / ≤3ER · 4ER · ≥5ER (blowup)

Pitch Arsenal

Current season pitch data by type. Velocity, spin rate, movement, whiff rate, and CSW% at a glance.

Pitch	Usage	Velo (mph)	Spin	H-Mvmt	V-Mvmt	Whiff%	CSW%
Four-Seam Fastball	39.6%	95.5	2,240	+4.5"	+8.8"	12.6%	21.0%
Slider	23.1%	87.1	2,390	-0.6"	+1.1"	23.6%	30.6%
Splitter	17.3%	86.6	1,592	+5.6"	+5.1"	29.7%	24.0%
Curveball	11.2%	79.9	2,576	-3.8"	-3.8"	21.5%	25.9%
Cutter	8.4%	90.3	2,313	-0.3"	+4.8"	23.4%	27.7%
Sinker	0.3%	96.3	2,233	+4.3"	+8.5"	—	0.0%

H-Mvmt/V-Mvmt (inch): movement vs. a spinless ball. + = toward 3B / up, − = toward 1B / down. Whiff% = whiffs / swings, CSW% = (called strikes + whiffs) / pitches.

Handedness & Home/Away Splits

Situational splits for the current season. See strengths and weaknesses by scenario.

vs Handedness

Split	OAVG	OOPS	HR	K	BB
vs RHB	.268	.795	6	48	22
vs LHB	.306	.809	1	19	8

Home / Away

Split	OAVG	OOPS	HR	K	BB
Home	.250	.709	2	26	8
Away	.291	.840	5	41	22

Year-over-Year Performance Trend

Career-long performance trends for every key stat. How does this year compare to history?

Season	G	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	BB/9	K
2021	29	157.0	4.41	1.32	9.34	3.55	163
2022	32	100.2	5.19	1.50	11.09	5.19	124
2023	32	167.2	3.86	1.27	9.72	2.58	181
2024	32	175.2	4.05	1.20	10.55	2.25	206
2025	33	178.1	3.99	1.42	8.78	3.73	174
2026Now	14	67.2	4.92	1.54	8.91	3.99	67

Full Game Log (Pitching)

All 14 regular season games of 2026. Showing latest 10; click to expand.

Date	Opp	IP	H	ER	BB	K	ER/9
09/28	@ SEA	5.0	6	3	1	7	5.40
09/23	@ OAK	5.1	7	2	1	2	3.38
09/17	vs SEA	4.1	5	4	5	4	8.31
09/12	@ WSH	4.0	3	1	4	5	2.25
09/06	@ PIT	6.0	5	0	3	6	0.00
08/31	vs PHI	7.0	6	2	1	6	2.57
08/24	@ TEX	5.0	7	5	1	4	9.00
04/30	@ CWS	2.0	2	0	1	1	0.00
04/25	@ KC	5.0	5	5	2	5	9.00
04/19	vs SD	6.0	4	0	1	8	0.00

SHOW REMAINING 4 GAMES ▾

Date	Opp	IP	H	ER	BB	K	ER/9
04/14	@ NYY	3.1	4	4	4	3	10.80
04/08	vs ATL	5.0	6	4	1	8	7.20
04/02	@ CHC	5.1	6	5	4	5	8.44
03/28	@ HOU	4.1	8	2	1	3	4.15

Year-over-Year (2026 vs 2025)

Green = improvement, red = decline. "—" means no data in the same month last year.

Pitching

	Mar	Apr	Aug	Sep
ERA	-0.35	+1.82	-0.29	-2.27
K	-2	+7	-14	+6
WHIP	+1.25	-0.28	-0.21	+0.22

AI · SEASON ANALYSIS

Yusei Kikuchi 2026 Season AI Analysis

Comprehensive 2026 season analysis generated by Claude AI from stats data (as of Sep 28, 2026).

Overview

Kikuchi's 2026 line sits well below MLB average across the board: ERA 5.00 vs the 3.57 league mark (worse than P50 3.73, nowhere near P75), WHIP 1.55 vs 1.18 average, and BB/9 4.05 vs 2.75 average puts him outside the P50 threshold of 2.55. The lone bright spot is K/9 at 8.78, which lands right at league average (8.94) but trails his own recent norms. Overall standing is bottom-tier among qualified starters.

Strengths

Strikeout ability remains present — 65 K in 66.2 IP keeps K/9 at 8.78, roughly matching his 2025 mark (8.78) and MLB average. This suggests the underlying stuff and swing-and-miss capability have not eroded even as results have. Compared to his 2022 low point (ERA 5.19), the swing-and-miss profile is more stable than that season, and the raw strikeout count shows he is still missing bats at a league-typical rate despite the surrounding command issues.

Areas to Improve

Command has regressed sharply. BB/9 of 4.05 is well above his career range (3.4-4.2 historically, but trending toward the higher end) and nearly a full walk-plus above MLB average (2.75), placing him outside even the P50 tier (2.55). This walk rate is compounding into the elevated WHIP (1.55 vs 1.18 average) and ERA (5.00 vs 3.57 average). The gap between his strikeout rate (average) and his ERA/WHIP (well below average) points to traffic on the bases and likely diminished efficiency per inning — he is not missing bats less, he is putting more runners on ahead of and around those strikeouts.

Looking Ahead

The season profile through 14 starts (66.2 IP) suggests a command-driven decline rather than a stuff-driven one, since strikeout output remains near league average. The path back to his 2023-2025 form (ERA in the high-3s/low-4s, BB/9 closer to 3.0) hinges on cutting the walk rate rather than chasing more strikeouts. Barring a mechanical or approach adjustment, the current trajectory points to a below-average finish; a stabilization in control would likely bring ERA and WHIP back toward league-average territory given the strikeout foundation is still intact.

AI-generated content (Claude) · Based on stats as of Sep 28, 2026

Detailed Analysis

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Season Analysis

Season Progress

ERA

↓ Lower is better

WHIP

↓ Lower is better

Strikeouts

Wins

Monthly Stats

ERA

vs MLB Monthly Avg↓ Lower is better

WHIP

vs MLB Monthly Avg↓ Lower is better

Strikeouts

Wins

Season Analysis

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Splits vs LHP / RHP

Season stats vs right-handed and left-handed batters

vs RHP/RHB

.268OPS .795 / HR 6

vs LHP/LHB

.306OPS .809 / HR 1

Metrics Deep Dive

MLB-wide percentile rank, defensive and pitching metric summaries, pitch-type stats, and batted-ball distribution.

Pitching — MLB-wide Standing

K/9 ranks in the top 52% of MLB. The rest sit closer to league average.

ERA4.92

WHIP1.54

strikeouts67

K/98.91

Bars show percentile rank among MLB-wide qualified players.

PITCHER · FIP

What is Yusei Kikuchi's FIP? 3.93 in 2026

FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) measures a pitcher's true skill using only home runs, walks, hit-by-pitches and strikeouts — outcomes the pitcher controls. By stripping out defense and luck, it tracks real ability more closely than ERA.

Yusei Kikuchi's 2026 FIP is 3.93, rated as "MLB average". That's right around the MLB average of about 4.00.

Compare with other Japanese pitchers in the FIP ranking

Pitch Type K% & BA Against

K% / BA-against / Whiff% by pitch type this season. K% is based on at-bats where each type was the strikeout pitch.

Pitch	Usage	K%	BAA	Whiff%
Four-Seam Fastball	39.6%	17.4%	.381	12.6%
Slider	23.1%	19.8%	.412	23.6%
Splitter	17.3%	38.3%	.310	29.7%
Curveball	11.2%	19.4%	.318	21.5%
Cutter	8.4%	24.1%	.462	23.4%

K%: rate of strikeouts among plate appearances where this pitch type was the final pitch. Whiff%: whiffs per swing. Types with fewer than 10 pitches excluded.

Splits by Batter Handedness

BA / OPS against and WHIP vs right-handed and left-handed batters this season. Spot weaknesses by batter type.

Split	BAA	OPS	WHIP	K	IP
vs RHB	.268	.795	1.47	48	50.1
vs LHB	.306	.809	1.76	19	17.0

Game Log

2026 Season Appearance Log

14 starts · 67 total strikeouts

Season Best K

Sun, Apr 19 vs SD

Season Debut

Sat, Mar 28 @ HOU

4.1IP · 3K

Date	Opp	IP	K	HR	BB	Dec
9/28	@SEA	5.0	7	-	1	L
9/23	@OAK	5.1	2	-	1	-
9/17	vsSEA	4.1	4	-	5	L
9/12	@WSH	4.0	5	-	4	-
9/6	@PIT	6.0	6	-	3	W
8/31	vsPHI	7.0	6	2	1	L
8/24	@TEX	5.0	4	2	1	L
4/30	@CWS	2.0	1	-	1	-
4/25	@KC	5.0	5	-	2	L
4/19	vsSD	6.0	8	-	1	-
4/14	@NYY	3.1	3	2	4	-
4/8	vsATL	5.0	8	-	1	L
4/2	@CHC	5.1	5	-	4	L
3/28	@HOU	4.1	3	1	1	-